CO 



TOUR FROM MONTREAL TO PORTLAND AND THE WHITE^MOUNTAINS. 



with a lofty wooden platform behind it, surmounted l.y the "star- 

 spangled banner." To this welcome though lowly mansion, we 

 gladly directed our weary steps, assured, from report, that we 

 should find in it every reasonable comfort and accommodation, 

 whether for day or night ; and we were not disappointed; find- 

 ing the interior to consist of one long dining apartment, with the 

 table ready spread, — with a sort of sitting or reading room at one 

 end, and the kitchen department at the other; while along the 

 whole of one side extended a range of small bed-closets or state- 

 rooms, with upper and lower berths, steamboat fashion, — sufficient 

 to accommodate 30 or 40 tourists — if wanted, to double upon 

 emergency, in si.ch out-of-the-way quarters, and who, as we can 

 vouch from experience, will, if not too fastidious, find themselves 

 in all other respects very comfortably fed and cared for, at a very 

 reasonable rate, during their sojourn on so very extraordinary a 

 spot. 



After a short rest, to recruit our weary limbs, — for though the 

 distance from the Glen House to the summit is not more than 

 five and a half miles, we found we had taken five hours to ascend, 

 including an hour's rest at different intervals, after quitting the 

 \ iewless forest region, to enjoy the contemplation of the sur- 

 rounding singularly imposing panorama, and pick up a few 

 geological specimens, we sallied forth to take a more leisurely sur- 

 vey of the utterly bleak and desolate scene immediately before 

 us, compared with the more cheering diversified distant prospect, 

 with the aid of the large telescope on the top of the neighbouring 

 platform ; when lo ! what should we observe close by, but a rival 

 hotel, of lesser dimensions, dignified with the name of " The Tip- 

 Top House,"— of which more hereafter — my business at present 

 being to attempt to give something of a description of the wild 

 Alpine region around us. Well, 1 have endeavoured to summon 

 all my descriptive powers; but I find myself unable to do justice 

 to the subject; so must be content to confess myself incompetent 

 to the task, and to beg my readers to go and judge for themselves, 

 and they will possibly find themselves in the same embarrassing 

 predicament. Suffice it then to request the tourist to fancy him- 

 self occupying the solitary central point of a vast circle of at least 

 200 miles in diameter, and looking round on every hand on a 

 retiring succession of five or six ranges of lofty mountains, rising 

 behind each other like gigantic waves in a tempestuous ocean, 

 and he will have some slight idea of the extraordinary scene then 

 before us. Let him then take a glance at the few far-stretching 

 intervening valleys within view, and he will be able to count ten 

 or twelve lakes or lakelets sprinkled about in different directions. 

 And, after again contemplating the towering summits immediate- 

 ly round him, let him gradually take a wider range, and among 

 the various particularly noticeable objects, the Green Mountains of 

 Vermont will be pointed out to him in the western distance, on 

 the one hand, while if the day be favourable, a flitting blight 

 speck may sometimes be seen, on the verge of the south-eastern 

 horizon, near 100 miles distant, which he will be told is a white 

 sail on the Atlantic, near Portland. 



The morning on which we ascended Mount Washington had 

 been particularly favourable for a distant prospect ; but by the 

 time we reached the summit, a thin purple haze had so veiled 

 the remote landscape, that it was all that we could do to recog- 

 nize the ocean ; and such continued to be the case till towards 

 evening, when the wind rapidly increasing, the wild sunset scene 

 became particularly imposing, from being contrasted with a calm, 

 white bed of fleecy clouds that had gradually enveloped and set- 

 tled round the neighbouring mountain tops and sides, while a 

 second higher stratum of clouds kept rushing wildly past, and 

 down into the intermediate valleys, without at all disturbing the 

 placid surface of the former, until at last the setting sun became 

 obscured, and darkness gradually veiling the solemn scene, the 



[18S3 



whole mountain region became enveloped in a winding-sheet of 

 cold, dense mist :— but not before an extra interesting object had 

 been added to the awfully sublime landscape, by the opportunity 

 of, for the first time, gazing at the long-tailed stranger— the 

 Comet, — wending his mysterious way down the western horizon. 



Not being quite satisfied with one imperfect evening prospect, 

 we determined to enjoy next morning, if possible, the beauties 

 and splendours of dawn and sunrise; but in this we were doomed 

 to be wofully disappointed ; — for the angry spirit of the mountain 

 had, during the night, sent forth from the N. W. a perfect gale, 

 accompanied by a driving, drizzling mist of such density, that in 

 the morning we were obliged to console ourselves with a hearty 

 breakfast,- and to make the best of our disappointed way to the 

 lower regions btfore the storm, by the old rugged path, at the 

 occasional risk of being blown down " tit one fell swoop" all the 

 way to Glen House, where, however, we fortunately arrived with- 

 out accident in somewhat more than three hours, just as the clouds 

 began to pour forth a hearty shower* A renovated toilet and a 

 hearty dinner soon set all right, and in about an hour afterwards 

 we were en route, in spite of wind and rain, back to Gorham 

 House, to be soon after whirled comfortably along by rail as far 

 as Sherbrooke — to halt for a day — where I propose bidding my 

 reader adieu, after putting him in possession of a few more hints 

 regarding the wild mountain region which we have left behind us. 



To the mere summer tourist, whose only aim is locomotive 

 novelty as a lover of the romantic, a visit to the White Mountains 

 will ever prove sufficiently attractive; but to those of a philoso- 

 phic turn, and more especially to the botanical and geological 

 student, it will be still more so, from the opportunity it affords of 

 witnessing, during the ascent, the rapid transition from the warm 

 region of stately forests round their base, to the middle zone of 

 dwarfish evergreens higher up, and the bleak, dark hued and 

 utterly shrubless chaos of scattered rocks, extending at least one- 

 third of the distance to the summit; and he will not be the less 

 surprised to find that, instead of any portion of these rocks being 

 in siti/, the whole consists of dislocated fragments of every size 

 and form, and in every position, as if the upper portion of the 

 mountain had been upheaved, or rather exploded into the air by 

 some internal force, and the shattered materials had been again 

 deposited in utter confusion, where they now lie.-)- 



The general structure of these fragments is a kind of stratified 

 granite, in many instances passing into micaceous schist, of a very 

 brilliant appearance in the fresh fracture, but where weather-beaten, 

 generally vested with crisp short lichens, imparting a dark gloomy 

 character to the whole scene. To this, however, there are some 

 marked exceptions as in is two venerable spurs of the moun- 

 tain about half way up, the bare rough surface of which has an 

 imposing hoary aspect, distinct from all the rest, arising peihaps 

 from some extra material producing a more rapid decomposition 

 or disintegration of the superabundant Felspar. But to enable 

 me to know more on this point hereafter, I have brought away a 

 few interesting specimens, to be submitted to the inspection of 

 more scientific friends. Being at the time disposed to attribute 

 the convulsive force alluded to to volcanic action, I looked nar- 

 rowly round in every direction for some indications of traps, but 

 without success.^ 



* One solitary tourist had ventured lo attempt the ascent of the Mountain 

 this moiniiltr, bin was obliged to retreat, afier having accomplished two-thirds 

 of his wearv pilgrimage, for tear ol being blown away. 



f For the mere tourist, Summer is, of course, the best season. For the 

 more philosophic admirers of natuie, the many-tinted Autumn is lobe 

 preferred. 



+ Note.— Since the above was in type, the writer had very unexpectedly an op- 

 portunity of submitting these specimens to ihe scientific inspeciion of Mr. Logan, 

 whose remarks upon them are as follows :— "The specimens fiom Mount Washing- 

 Ion are all granitic, being composed ofquam, feldspar and mica. The constituents 

 are generally so arranged as to give the rocks from which they come a gncissoid 



